The Inner Ring

Wherever you go, there would always be groups of people. Let's see Calvin as an example. There are the Christian Reformed and the ones that are not Christian Reformed. There are the Michigan people and the ones that come from other states. There are then the Americans and the International Students. Then among that group of International Students there are many other groups based on their ethnicity. This is what C.S. Lewis called the Inner Ring. You discovered an Inner Ring, a group you want to belong. And when you get close enough to be part of that Inner Ring, you discover that there were other Inner Rings that you didn't know. "Within the ring, there was a Ring yet more inner." This process keeps going and going as if you are peeling layers and layers of onion. Everyone has a desire to be inside an Inner Ring because they are scarred to be left outside. Interestingly, C.S. Lewis mentioned that the existence of an Inner Ring is necessary although in some cases it can be dangerous. "A thing may be morally neutral and yet the desire for that thing may be dangerous." When one chooses the wrong Inner Rings, then one can turn into a scoundrel. We talked about gang members as an example of this. Some kids don't really know what it is to be in a gang, which in this case is the Inner Ring. They just want to be friends with those in the gang, so they joined the gang. However, the consequences are that they have to do bad things as stealing and hurting people although they might not really want to until they eventually turn into a scoundrel. Another danger is that you might have a strong desire to be in that Inner Ring but you don't really know what is it to be in that ring. "If all you want is to be in the know, your pleasure will be short lived."
"Poor man - it is not large, lighted rooms, or champagne, or even scandals about peers and Cabinet Ministers that he wants: it is the sacred little attic or studio, the heads bent together, the fog of tobacco smoke, and the delicious knowledge that we - we four or five all huddled beside this stove - are the people who know." Just like this poor man, we have to know what is it that we really want and be aware of the dangers of the Inner Ring.